Mean Streets – 1973
You don’t make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets…
Director
Martin Scorsese

Writers
Martin Scorsese (story)
Martin Scorsese
Mardik Martin

Producers
E. Lee Perry executive producer
Martin Scorsese producer
Jonathan T. Taplin producer

Cast
Robert De Niro – John ‘Johnny Boy’ Civello
Harvey Keitel – Charlie Cappa
David Proval – Tony DeVienazo
Amy Robinson – Teresa Ronchelli
Richard Romanus – Michael Longo
Cesare Danova – Giovanni Cappa
Victor Argo – Mario (as Vic Argo)
George Memmoli – Joey ‘Clams’ Scala
Lenny Scaletta – Jimmy
Jeannie Bell – Diane
Murray Moston – Oscar
David Carradine – Drunk
Robert Carradine – Drunk’s Killer
Lois Walden – Jewish Girl
Harry Northup – Jerry the Soldier
Dino Seragusa – Old Man
D’Mitch Davis – Officer Davis
Peter Fain – George
Julie Andleman – Girl at Party
Robert Wilder – Benton
Ken Sinclair – Sammy
Jaime Alba – Young Man #1
Ken Konstantin – Young Man #2
Nicki ‘Ack’ Aquilino – Man on Docks
B. Mitchell Reed – Disc Jockey
Catherine Scorsese – Woman on Landing (uncredited)
Martin Scorsese – Jimmy Shorts (uncredited)

Review by Theo Robertson

Mean Streets (1973)
There`s Such A Thing As Being Too Realistic,

This might sound ridiculous but it wasn`t until 1991 that I got into De Niro , Keitel and Scorsese in a big way . I`d just seen the classic TAXI DRIVER and eagerly got my dad to tape MEAN STREETS off Sky television . Unfortunately I thought I`d either given my dad a bad tape or the video hadn`t been tuned into the TV station properly since the picture quality was very poor and everything was filmed in a sickly red colour and that`s just the bits I could make out because for most of the movie the contrast was terrible with everything being dimly lit.

It wasn`t until a couple of nights ago when I saw MEAN STREETS on network TV that I realised that the poor picture quality wasn`t anything to do with duff videotapes or out of tune video recorders – It was down to the fact that the original print suffers from some terrible lighting and cinematography that gives the impression that the movie was made on 8mm by a bunch of twelve year old boys.

That`s bad enough but what brings the film down ( And I noticed this on first viewing in 1991 ) is that Scorsese has forgotten to write a plot to his screenplay . I think Martin Scorsese is god where making movies is concerned but not even he can escape criticism by making a movie that goes nowhere . For the most part MEAN STREETS resembles those Harry Enfield characters The Scousers with New York accents.

” You alright Johnny Boy ? ”
” You asking me if I`m alright ? ”
” Yeah I am . What the f*** you gonna do about it ? ”

It`s like this all the way through the running time up until the last ten minutes when Marty finally realises he`s got to introduce an incident in order to finish the film

The acting from Harvey Keitel is totally convincing while De Niro is superb (Something that can`t be said for most of his recent performances) but by writing a low concept hyper realistic screenplay Scorsese has effectively ruined the movie in its conception . Ask yourself this : If the driving force behind the movie wasn`t Martin Scorsese would you have regarded MEAN STREETS so highly ?

Review by Jack Gattanella

Mean Streets (1973)

The Breakthrough,
To say that this film isn’t good and original is to insult film-buffs everywhere (or unless you are the average film person). This was a amazing (and original) breakthrough for stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro (who knew they could look so young) and co-writer/director Martin Scorsese. Before this he made small films that didn’t pull in that much (except for Woodstock), but this was a big leap that depicted what he knew best, the street life.

Great drama, great direction and great scene (and violence) depiction make this a great film to see for all film buffs and especially Scorsese fans. A+